Beyond Google Play: Galaxy Store and Huawei AppGallery

Most Android teams ship to Google Play and stop there. Two other stores reach a lot of phones on their own terms: Samsung's Galaxy Store, which comes preloaded on Galaxy devices, and Huawei's AppGallery, which matters most on Huawei phones that run HMS Core rather than Google's services. This guide covers how each works as of 4 October 2026: the seller account, submission and review, listing assets, in-app purchases, beta testing and reach. It ends with a plain view of when each is worth your time.

The short version

• Galaxy Store has no sign-up or annual fee. To publish an Android app outside mainland China you need commercial seller status as a company, verified with a D-U-N-S Number.
• AppGallery accounts are free for individuals and enterprises, after identity verification in AppGallery Connect.
• Both accept app bundles as well as APKs, and both recommend, but don't require, their own in-app purchase SDK.
• Huawei says some Android apps need Google's GMS Core and may not run on HMS Core. Check every dependency that relies on Google Play services before you submit.
• Both stores run their own beta tests. Your Play testing tracks don't carry over.

Samsung Galaxy Store

The seller account

You sign up with a Samsung account at Seller Portal. Samsung's preparation guide describes two kinds of seller, private and corporate, and says that to distribute free or paid apps you must have commercial seller status. The Galaxy Store FAQ says there is no sign-up fee and no annual fee.

The detail that catches individuals out is in the Seller Portal user guide: to register an Android app, unless you are of mainland Chinese nationality, you need a Corporate Commercial Seller request, and D-U-N-S certification is required for that request. In practice, a solo developer without a company can't publish an Android app there. Samsung's preparation guide allows up to 10 business days to verify a D-U-N-S Number. If you don't have one yet, our Google Play developer account guide covers how D-U-N-S works for Play organisation accounts, and the same number serves both.

Submission and review

You can upload an APK or an Android App Bundle. The FAQ says Galaxy Store generates a universal APK from your bundle, and that Galaxy Store requires a target API level of 33 or higher and at least one 64-bit binary. Once an app ships as a bundle, the user guide says you can't switch it back to APKs.

Review runs in two phases, Pre-Review and Device Test, and the user guide says the app goes on sale once it passes Pre-Review. Samsung doesn't publish a review time for apps, so leave yourself slack before a launch date.

Listing assets

• Icon: PNG, 512 by 512 pixels, up to 1024 KB.
• Screenshots: PNG or JPG, between 320 and 3840 pixels on a side, with an aspect ratio no wider than 2.3:1.
• Hero image: 1200 by 675 pixels, for games.

If you already have Play assets, your 512 pixel icon carries straight over. Our guides to Android app icon sizes and Google Play screenshot sizes cover the Play side.

In-app purchases

Samsung's distribution guide says Samsung In-App Purchase is recommended for selling in-app products, and the FAQ says Samsung has always supported third-party payment systems. If you do register in-app items in Seller Portal, the user guide says the Samsung IAP SDK is required for them. Samsung's IAP overview lists payment methods in more than 120 countries.

On revenue, the FAQ says your share using Samsung Checkout is 80% of net sales proceeds, and the Galaxy Store developer page lists an 85:15 split for subscriptions.

Beta testing

Seller Portal runs open and closed beta tests. The user guide allows up to one open beta app and up to five closed beta apps, with no limit on open beta testers. Samsung's launch guide adds a catch: if your app uses Samsung In-App Purchase, you can run a closed beta but not an open one.

Who it reaches

Samsung's developer page says Galaxy Store is preloaded on 1.2 billion devices in 188 countries. Where those Galaxy owners can also reach you through Google Play, the store is a second shop window on the same users rather than a new audience.

Developer verification

Google's developer verification guide lists Samsung (Galaxy Store) among the stores whose installs the system verifies, and Samsung's developer page flags verification as mandatory from September 2026. Complete verification before you submit. Our guide to Android developer verification covers what to do.

Huawei AppGallery

The developer account

Huawei's identity verification help says individual and enterprise accounts on HUAWEI Developers are free to register and use. You register a HUAWEI ID, then complete identity verification to turn it into a developer account, as the AppGallery developer page puts it. Huawei distinguishes enterprise from individual developers, and enterprises get access to more services. Huawei says it completes the verification review within 1 to 2 working days.

Submission and review

You release in AppGallery Connect. Huawei's release overview accepts APK, RPK, App Bundle and APP packages, and its APK release guide says app review usually takes 1 to 3 working days. Phone APKs must be 64-bit.

Listing assets

For a phone app, Huawei's material requirements ask for:

• Icon: one PNG, 216 by 216 or 512 by 512 pixels, up to 2 MB.
• Screenshots: 3 to 8, at 800 by 450 or 450 by 800 pixels.
• Optional: introduction videos and a promotional video.

Your Play screenshots will need resizing, since Huawei's sizes are fixed.

In-app purchases and HMS Core

Huawei's review guidelines recommend, rather than require, integrating HUAWEI IAP. HUAWEI IAP is part of HMS Core, Huawei's set of mobile services, and supports local currencies in more than 170 countries and regions. Huawei's pages don't state a revenue share that we could confirm, so check your agreement in AppGallery Connect.

The bigger question is Google's services. Huawei's support page on HMS Core says certain Android apps require support from GMS Core and may not be able to run on HMS Core. If your app uses Google Play Billing, Firebase Cloud Messaging, Google Maps or Google Sign-In, each of those needs an HMS alternative or a fallback on devices without Google's services. Huawei's HMS Toolkit page describes builds that call HMS APIs alone, or that support both GMS and HMS.

Beta testing

AppGallery Connect has an open testing service. Huawei's testing restrictions allow up to 100 testers without a manual review, or up to 5,000 with one, for at most 90 days, and testers need a HUAWEI ID.

Who it reaches

Huawei's own figures vary by page, so treat any single number loosely. Its distribution page cites over 500 million active Android users in over 170 countries and regions. Its install guide says AppGallery also runs on most Android phones and tablets from other brands, on Android 5.0 or later. The audience Play can't reach is owners of Huawei devices that run without Google's services.

When each store is worth the effort

Galaxy Store is worth it if you are a company with a D-U-N-S Number and many of your users are on Galaxy devices, where the store comes preloaded. For a solo developer, the corporate requirement for Android apps settles it for now. For everyone else, the reach overlaps with Play, so weigh a second review queue and a second listing against the extra visibility.

AppGallery is worth it if a meaningful share of your users carry Huawei phones without Google's services, or you are targeting regions where Huawei sells well. The cost is less about the account, which is free, and more about engineering: every Google Play services dependency needs an HMS path. If your app is built around Firebase and Google Maps, price that work before you commit.

For both, keep your Play pipeline as the source of truth. Build one signed bundle, then upload the same version to each store, so a bug report from any store maps to one version number. Each store reviews and tests separately, so a beta on Play's testing tracks doesn't count as a beta on Galaxy Store or AppGallery.

How FeedbackKit fits in

If you ship the same app to three stores, you get reviews in three consoles but one product to improve. An in-app board keeps requests in one place, whichever store the app came from. FeedbackKit's Kotlin SDK, Flutter SDK and React Native SDK talk to FeedbackKit's own API over HTTPS. None of them depends on Google Play services: the Kotlin SDK's dependencies are OkHttp, kotlinx.serialization, coroutines, AndroidX, Jetpack Compose with Material 3, and DataStore. So the board doesn't add a GMS dependency to your Samsung upload, and it doesn't need a replacement on a Huawei phone that runs HMS Core. As always, test on a real device from each store before you ship.

When you run a beta on Galaxy Store or AppGallery, the same board is where testers' requests land. FeedbackKit's beta status is called TestFlight, after Apple's service, and Android users see that same label. Many teams use it to mean "in testing", whichever store's beta it is.

Here is how that looks in FeedbackKit, with sample data from a fictional hiking app:

The Kotlin feedback board guide walks through setup, and pricing lists what each plan includes. When you are ready to put one board behind every store, start free.